Long-term deprivation of liberty to information provided by the SGIP, in 2011 51,859 external consultations were requested. Of these, 2,242 (4.32%) could not be provided because the agents charged with escorting and transferring inmates from the prison to the medical centre in question failed to materialise, due to staffing shortages. There are prisons in which this problem is particularly pressing. At Castellón de la Plana prison, for example, the medical services reported that in 2011 and at the time of the inspection in mid-December, of a total of 434 consultations with prior appointment, 77 (17.74%) had had to be rescheduled for this reason. Nonetheless, they said that no such custody problems existed for urgent transferrals. An ex officio investigation has been launched with the Directorate General for the Police and the Directorate General for the Civil Guard to determine the specific causes of this problem and identify possible solutions. 130.  Whatever the measures that need to be taken by the respective directorates general to alleviate these problems, it is of fundamental importance that protocols be drawn up between the SGIP and the respective regional government departments with powers for health in the autonomous communities to provide certain medical consultations using videoconferencing and remote healthcare systems, as stated in Paragraph 339 of the Annual Report 2010. This would reduce waiting times in medical services, improve flexibility in scheduling prisoners’ medical appointments and increase the information provided on the possible duration of consultations and surgery. The SGIP has expressed its willingness to reach agreements with the regional health departments, although there are as yet few facilities that have remote healthcare services in operation. Protocols must be drawn 131.  Although generally speaking, the infirmary facilities visited in 2011 were adequate, in Castellón de la Plana prison, it would help the work of the medical services if the number of computers was increased and Internet access were provided. At Alcala de Guadaíra (Seville), the infirmary has first-aid equipment which, we were told, has never been used and requires inspection. We recommend that this be done immediately and the equipment upgraded. Finally, the infirmary at Fontcalent psychiatric prison hospital (Alicante) has recently been comprehensively refurbished, as repeatedly requested by the Ombudsman’s Office. It looks entirely different to the rest of the centre, and is similar in appearance to newly-constructed facilities. However, in the words of one of the psychiatrists from the facility interviewed: “It is designed like the infirmary of a prison, not a hospital”. According to the assistant medical director, this department also caters to people who are awaiting examination by an expert psychiatric, ordered by the judicial authority. This examination is performed by a psychiatrist who is not on the staff of the centre, to prevent doctors from being faced with a possible conflict of interests in issuing a report on someone they are also treating. The infirmary facilities THE OMBUDSMAN OF SPAIN  up for collaboration between the SGIP and the regional health departments, to offer remote healthcare systems and videoconferencing visited in 2011 are adequate  149